Alan Cumming Hosts First United Nations LGBT Gala

The United Nations held its first LGBT gala, which was sponsored by Outright Action International, on Monday night. This follows the UN’s Security Council meeting in August that focused on discrimination and violence against LGBT, which is seen by some as the global community finally beginning to formally recognize a problem that has existed for quite some time. Monday night’s gala was hosted by Alan Cumming.

Cumming explained: “Well I think it’s sort of like a little chink in the armor of bigotry on a worldwide level because it is symbolic that this is happening in the institution and also kind of ridiculous at the same time that this is the first time anything like this has happened at the U.N.

Yuli Rustinawati, the Indonesian gay rights activist, was honored at Monday night’s gala. Her organization, Arus Pelangi, is a leading LGBT advocacy group in Indonesia. She recently told the Bay Area Reporter: “It really means to us… proof that you are not alone…. It makes us more proud to be our self and fight for our rights.”

The Outright Action International award comes at a time when Indonesia is considering passing a law that, because it is written so broadly, could criminalize LGBT and human rights advocates in the name of national security. Cumming commented on this proposal: “I mean if the state needs to be threatened with the idea of equality, then good. I hope those homosexuals do threaten the state. I mean if they threaten with equality, it’s not so bad.”